The Amazing Mission to Pluto: Three Billion Miles Away and We Made It!

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

Dr. Alan Stern

What is the talk about?

More than three billion miles away and ten years in the making, the New Horizons Mission to Pluto brings invaluable information from the outer reaches of our solar system. New Horizons is the fastest aircraft ever launched and the first mission to provide information about the atmospheres, geology and surface properties of Pluto and its surrounding moons, including Charon and Hydra. Dr. Alan Stern, principal investigator for the mission, shares the history of the mission, the science behind it as well as its major scientific discoveries.

About our presenter

Dr. Alan Stern

Dr. Alan Stern holds bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy as well as master’s degrees in aerospace and civil engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. He earned a doctorate in astrophysics and planetary science from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dr. Stern is the principal investigator of the New Horizons mission and a Vice President for the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Colorado. Dr. Stern has received the 2016 Carl Sagan Memorial Award, the 2015 Neil Armstrong Space Flight Achievement Award, and the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award. He was also recognized as one of Time’s “100 Most Influential People” in 2007, then again in 2016.